Rainbows throw 1 away

The UH baseball team falls short against Wolf Pack

From staff and wire reports

Hawaii has been the best in the WAC at overcoming physical errors this season.

Mental errors are another problem altogether.

Rainbows coach Mike Trapasso said he counted nine mental errors by his team in a 7-5 loss yesterday at Nevada. The loss dropped Hawaii below .500 in the WAC at 9-10, 4 1/2 games behind first-place Fresno State.

Hawaii committed three errors in the field, but yielded only one unearned run.

The Rainbows have allowed only 27 unearned runs this year. San Jose State has the next fewest in the WAC with 40.

Kris Sanchez led Hawaii's hitting attack with three hits and a pair of runs scored, while starting pitcher Ian Harrington gave up six runs on 13 hits in five innings.

Hawaii finishes up the series tomorrow at Nevada.

RENO, Nev. » Hawaii battled in the late innings, but it wasn't enough to make up for its early futility and mistakes, and host Nevada prevailed 7-5 yesterday in the opener of the teams' three-game Western Athletic Conference baseball series.

Hawaii fell to 31-20 and 9-10 in the WAC. Nevada improved to 29-22 and 12-7.

Wolf Pack pitcher Ryan Rodriguez (8-5) retired the first 11 UH batters. The Rainbows did manage 12 hits, and scored in four of the last five innings. But it wasn't enough.

Nevada's Matt Renfree relieved Rodriguez in the eighth and got the save, striking out four of the seven UH batters he faced to close the game.

Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said he counted nine mental errors by his team.

"That was very frustrating and disappointing," he said. "That's more than they usually make in a month. I told them if they made (just) half of those mistakes they win by five runs.

"Nevada's a hot team, and when you give them opportunities like we did, they're going to take advantage of them. It's a positive the way we battled back, but the mistakes ..."

The biggest might have been when Derek DuPree was picked off of first in the middle of UH's two-run rally in the seventh that could've been much more fruitful and given Hawaii a tie or the lead.

DuPree hit the Rainbows' fourth consecutive single, putting runners on first and third with one out and the score 6-4. But he was caught off base when Rodriguez faked to third and threw to first, and the inning ended with Nevada still leading.

"Huge, huge mental error," Trapasso said. "When the pitcher throws over to first six or seven times, you know what we call the 31 is coming. There's no excuse."

Kris Sanchez had three hits for Hawaii, including two doubles. Eli Christensen singled three times, and drove in the Rainbows' first run in the fifth, but was charged with two errors at shortstop.

UH starter Ian Harrington took the loss (7-7), yielding 13 hits in five-plus innings. Three of the hits were infield singles, including back-to-back scratch hits by Mike Hale and Chris Siewart with two outs in the second. No. 9 hitter David Ciarlo drove them both in with a double.

"(Harrington) was actually pretty darn good," Trapasso said. "But when we weren't sabotaging him in the field (UH was charged with three errors) they were hitting 28-hoppers and finding holes."

Note: Hawaii clinched a berth in the WAC tournament on Friday when San Jose State beat New Mexico State 8-5.

WAC standings

Conference

Overall

W

L

Pct.

GB

W

L

Fresno State

15

5

.750

--

30

25

Nevada

12

7

.632

2 1/2

29

22

Louisiana Tech

14

9

.609

2 1/2

34

20

Hawaii

9

10

.474

4 1/2

31

20

Sacramento State

10

14

.417

7

17

34

San Jose State

8

12

.400

7

29

23

New Mexico State

6

17

.261

10 1/2

21

30

Yesterday
Nevada 7, Hawaii 5
San Jose State 10, New Mexico State 5
Fresno State 3, Louisiana Tech 1
Sacramento State 4, Northern Colorado 3Today
San Jose State at New Mexico State
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